I was just reading this story on CNN and my jaw just dropped. Not so much at the story (though it is a tragedy) so much as the perp's mug shot. Does this guy show ANY remorse? No, as a matter of fact, it looks almost as if he's smirking... This is someone you just want to punch in the face over and over again...

Arrest records show McTear has a lengthy criminal history that includes several battery and assault charges, including domestic battery by strangulation and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

He's a consistently violent person and it would only be a matter of time before he did it again. Hopefully they'll lock him up now and throw the key away, unless he goes to the chair or the needle, whatever they have in Florida.

Sadly, the world is full of them. You may of heard here in Melbourne, some sadistic low life threw their child off the Westgate Bridge at the start of the year. The child died later in hospital. Unfortunally the criminal system is so stuffed up here, that the guy will prolly get off on mental history like everyone else.

He's a consistently violent person and it would only be a matter of time before he did it again. Hopefully they'll lock him up now and throw the key away, unless he goes to the chair or the needle, whatever they have in Florida.

It's a strange ethical situation since a part of me says that the death penalty in this case is basically euthanasia. He was born with a bad brain, obviously. You can't fix that. So should he die because he's got a bad brain and he's a danger to society? Part of me says yes. Part of me says no.

I wonder why this type of crime almost always happen in FL! like two years ago I read of a guy who killed his baby hitting his head with the kitchen countertop because the s/he would not stop crying... crazy people!

Quoting Oly720man (Reply 1):He's a consistently violent person and it would only be a matter of time before he did it again. Hopefully they'll lock him up now and throw the key away, unless he goes to the chair or the needle, whatever they have in Florida.

Florida does not mess around. As long as he is sane he will get life for sure and the death penalty will be up there too.

"It was just four of us on the flight deck, trying to do our job" (Captain Al Haynes)

Quoting DocLightning (Reply 4):So should he die because he's got a bad brain and he's a danger to society? Part of me says yes. Part of me says no.

So? What would the verdict be if you were to decide? (It's easy to identify ethical issues, but it's more fun to work through them!)

IMO, if he were to be executed, it wouldn't be because he has a "bad brain"; nor would I use the word "euthanasia" to describe the execution. It would be an execution for the horrible crimes he committed and to make society a safer place. One could argue that society let him down by not forcing the right sort of treatment on him, but I don't buy that. This guy doesn't value life --- his own, nor others. He's a sociopath.

Nobody would miss him. And frankly, predators who can't understand the value of life nor feel remourse for their actions, shouldn't live among us. If you deliberately take someone's life, you don't deserve your own. Period.

Most people who know me are surprised to hear that I support the death penalty. I should be clear that I only support it in situations where there is absolutely no doubt of an individual's guilt.

Is there something going on? There is a sick man just arrested in Salem, south of Portland, for using a dog shock collar on his kids. Not for discipline. Oh, no. He used the shock collar for his own amusment. He thought it was funny. WTF is wrong with people? I don't think they deserve the death penalty, but a year or more in jail, but be forced to tell ALL the other inmates why he is there. They would take care of these b*stards but good.

Quoting Canuckpaxguy (Reply 11):Nobody would miss him. And frankly, predators who can't understand the value of life nor feel remourse for their actions, shouldn't live among us. If you deliberately take someone's life, you don't deserve your own. Period.

Most people who know me are surprised to hear that I support the death penalty. I should be clear that I only support it in situations where there is absolutely no doubt of an individual's guilt.

Great Post!

The guy will get death in Florida no doubt about it.

"It was just four of us on the flight deck, trying to do our job" (Captain Al Haynes)

Quoting Canuckpaxguy (Reply 10):
So? What would the verdict be if you were to decide? (It's easy to identify ethical issues, but it's more fun to work through them!)

Here's my answer: In cases like these, the condemned should be given the choice of life or death. "You will either spend the rest of your life in prison without any chance of parole. Or you may choose to die. At any point you may choose death and it will be done swiftly and painlessly."

Quoting DocLightning (Reply 14):At any point you may choose death and it will be done swiftly and painlessly."

Doc, some would applaud your civility, but you're trying to offer an arguably "reasonable" solution to someone who clearly can't think reasonably. But why should the guilty get to die pain-free? And why give them a choice? Did they give their victims a choice? (Most of the psychopaths aren't as lovable as Dexter Morgan.)

I don't understand why you want to extend them courtesies.

Now, Seb146 has got the right idea.... Force the guy to tell all the other criminals what he did and then let Mother Nature's bitchy second-cousin run her course.

My true thought is a bit more sinister I'm afraid. I've always believed that people who harm others should be subjected to the exact same terror they inflicted on others. And for truly heinous crimes, the punishment should be delivered publicly.

I'm not kidding.

For truly serious crimes, I think the public should be able to see the convict get punished. That guy that Seb146 mentioned in reply #12 should go on a tour of shopping malls all over his state wearing the shocking dog-collar he made his own children wear. And people could pay money to zap HIM right back. The likelihood of this dude getting rehabilitated is no different than the likelihood of his kids not being emotionally scarred from his abuse. Punish him! Make an example out of him! Terrorize people who MIGHT be contemplating doing something as psychotic into re-evaluating their decision.

... and another thing! I've never understood why we're so obsessed with humane executions. Why on earth does it need to be humane? The convict is about to get what he deserves, why would I care if he felt the burn of the electric chair, or the sting of the poison running through his veins? Have the murderers drawn-and-quartered for all I care. Just get rid of them.

Quoting Don81603 (Reply 17):In cases like this, it is... Even if the state doesn't give him the death penalty, he'll never survive on the inside. Even the most brutal murderers have kids...

I don't know... by the looks of this guy and his background, it wouldn't surprise me if he has family and/or friends already inside... I guess that would be a pro in his chances of survival... Too bad, because this guy doesn't deserve it...

Quoting Don81603 (Reply 17): Even if the state doesn't give him the death penalty, he'll never survive on the inside.

No..not necessarily true.
It's pretty much a myth that there is a lot of vigilante justice inside prison walls for crimes committed prior to incarceration---the exception being those convicted of pedophilia. More accurately, those convicted of pedophilia and brag about it.

While there have been a few highly publicized instances--such as Daumer and defrocked priest Geoghan--you are less likely to be killed in prison than in New York City (which has twice the murder rate of prisons)

The leading causes of murder in prison is gang-on-gang violence and deaths related to rioting.

Any effort to protect this guy while incarcerated will only make his prison stay more unbearable.

Which, if he is guilty, may be the most appropriate punishment of all.

Quoting Canuckpaxguy (Reply 15):
Doc, some would applaud your civility, but you're trying to offer an arguably "reasonable" solution to someone who clearly can't think reasonably. But why should the guilty get to die pain-free?

Because cruel and unusual punishment is banned and for good reason.

Quoting Canuckpaxguy (Reply 15):
My true thought is a bit more sinister I'm afraid. I've always believed that people who harm others should be subjected to the exact same terror they inflicted on others. And for truly heinous crimes, the punishment should be delivered publicly.

Why? He already had to have known that Florida had a death penalty. That didn't stop him. The evidence is that states with the death penalty have no significant difference in their murder rates than states without the death penalty.

It's more a question of "what is the most appropriate revenge?" and "what is the best way to protect society?" He needs to go somewhere where he can't do anything else violent to anyone. That may be a prison or it may be a grave. And that's my angle. I could give a flying fig about revenge. Revenge doesn't accomplish anything useful.

Sitting here with my 2 month old son sleeping on my chest, it makes me sad and angry.

Psychopaths like this should be dropped off aboard decommissioned aircraft carriers anchored in the middle of the ocean and left to fend for themselves. A couple of thousand murderers and rapists starving on a barren metal hulk roasting in the equitorial sun sounds like a pretty good rendition of hell on earth.